Sports are the most important things that don’t matter one bit. That universal truth which sounds like a Yogi Berra quote—but isn't—has been riffed by the likes of novelist Robert B Parker (writing about baseball) and the Men in Blazers (talking about soccer) because even we zealous sports fanatics are a little ashamed about how much we care.

DRAWN TO SAMII. We love our creative audience. Every day when we check our e-mail and open our actual mail (remember that?) we receive absolute treasures from you guys. Last month we got this handwritten note from Jamie Kan: “Dear Rocky and other badasses who work at Inked Mag, Of course it's the millionth time you've heard this but, your shit is badass!

If I had to choose one piece, I love my tattooed geisha on my leg. My leg piece and rib pieces were all done by Tony Ranger at Skin FX in the Gold Coast, Australia. My whole design is based on the yakuza body suit. I wanted something I could cover up with a suit by day and expose at night—kind of like Super Woman too!

There are people out there that consider the idea of balancing precariously on a plank of wood while trying your damnedest not to shatter an ankle dangerous, pointless, and downright insane. But bend the ear of any skater who just landed his or her first kick flip, or finally worked up the balls to hop a fence and drop in to that vacant pool and you might learn a thing or two about the unparalleled satisfaction that comes from creating something from nothing.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE TWIN PEAKS? Twin Peaks is an amazing place to travel to when in search for a great atmosphere and great company. BEST THING ON THE MENU? Our best food item is our tasteful 24 oz T-bone steak. The best part of my bar are the top shelf selections of bourbon, scotch, and whiskey.

We clamor to see the best take on the best—Brady v Manning, Curry v LeBron, Rousey v Holm—yet will Batman v Superman live up to the hype? In an effort to replicate the massively successful Marvel movie formula, DC Comics is finally getting into gear and throwing all of their biggest superheroes into this sequel to Man of Steel.

When Willie Cauley-Stein isn’t driving the lane he is driving golf balls

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KEVIN FIPPIN

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There’s a special place tucked away, amongst the few remaining undeveloped fields, in the northern most tip of California’s capital city. It’s a place that isn’t special because of its history, but because it’s a place where on any given day, you might just see the future.

Leticia Bufoni is one of the most decorated women in skating, both in ink and accolades. The 5’3,” 98-pound dynamo finished 1st in World Cup Skating’s women’s street four years in a row and was the first female athlete to grab three X Games Gold Medals in the same year.

Tattoo artists and boxers a common goal: leave a mark on the other guy. For the Tattooed Gloves Charity Boxing event at January’s Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival, tattooers from around the nation swapped needles for boxing gloves. The event originated in 2015, when Austin Tattoo Co.’s Keith Underwood was looking for alternatives to the traditional convention after-party (He explained, “Who wants to go to somebody’s shop and drink wine and talk about how wonderful we all are?”).

INKED: Any new ink since last we saw you? My new tattoo is the rib cage. It is a compass rose and a pocket watch done over two sessions, by Matt “Skinny” Bagwell. Did it kill your ribs? I thought that I was kind of a badass bitch before but we started and 30 seconds later I told him to give me five.

It’s easy to mock the idea of an all-star game. Often they are boring, uncompetitive affairs where the premier athletes in the game don’t even bother to show up. But the idea of an all-star team, the very best of the best, is still a very important concept.

Ink Master Season 7 commences March 1st on Spike TV. This contest features the most promising crop of rookies to date thrown to the wolves (past Ink Master All-Stars). Meet the players vying for $100,000, a feature in this magazine and the enviable title of Ink Master.

The concussion discussion has been prevalent in football and boxing, we have the conversation with BMX veterans Tony Hamlin, Tom White, Vinne Sammon and Tyrone Williams.

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Rocky Rakovic

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“I’d risk the fall just to know how it feels to fly.” After BMX legend Dave Mirra committed suicide in February somebody laid those Alicia Keys lyrics laid over his photo and it went viral. Any X Games sport comes with the inherent risk of immediate injury and a toll on the body for life, but long-term brain degeneration hasn’t been on the front of anyone’s mind in action sports.

How did you get into tattooing? I'm self-taught and I started tattooing in 2011. I had a friend, who was tattooing at the time, see one of my paintings I was doing for art school and suggest I try tattooing. So I did. I played around at home for a year or so tattooing my friends and pretty much anyone who would let me tattoo them.

WHEN USING SO MANY COLORS ARE YOU COGNIZANT OF HOW THE TATTOO WILL LOOK IN 10 YEARS? When I am thinking about a tattoo that will stand the test of time, I feel it has less to do with how many colors you use and more to do with the range of value. Often times the breakdown of a tattoo is completely out of the artist’s hands.

HOW INTIMATELY DO YOU KNOW THE SUBJECTS OF YOUR CELEBRITY PIECES (LIKE WERE YOU FAMILIAR WITH MIKE TYSON OR LIONEL MESSI BEFORE GETTING THE ASSIGNMENT) AND IF NOT HOW MUCH RESEARCH DO YOU DO? Each time, each moment and of course each clients’ preferences of the celebrity give me the momentum to work on that specific pieces.

WHAT STYLE OF TATTOOING DO YOU ENJOY THE MOST CURRENTLY? Realism and fantasy. The borderlines merge a little bit between the two, because it speaks about the visual spectacle not the content. And I think the spectacle has to make a realistic impression.

I go by Kitty or Kitty Sterling. My mentor said I needed a cool piercing name, and I’m kind of weird and “meow” a lot, so that happened... At Traditions we’re kind of that weird family that everyone stares at when they go out together. Our artists are all so different and nerdy in their own way.